This invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for decorating articles, and more particularly to one wherein the articles are decorated at a plurality of stations and registration of the article is maintained between stations.
Packaging trends have today made it desirable to employ multi-color designs having a high quality decoration to provide a more attractive and marketable package for the product. The hot stamping technique in this connection provides a system wherein a high quality and rich metallic decorative design may be applied to a variety of differently shaped containers including multi-color designs of an infinite variety.
In my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 3,718,517, issued on Feb. 27, 1973, a machine is disclosed which is readily adaptable for hot stamping and heat transfer decorating and which produces a high quality decorative design on a variety of differently shaped containers at a high production rate. As is the case in my earlier patent, where a multi-color design is being applied to a single container, each of the several colors is generally applied at a different decorating station. In those instances where several colors are applied to the same article or container, registration between the colors is important and in some cases critical. Furthermore, in certain instances when an article is being decorated at two or more decorating stations with the same color, registration between the design applied at one station must be maintained with respect to that applied at another station. Accordingly, in many instances where multi-station decorating is utilized, movement of the article between the stations must be controlled in order to accomplish the desired registration between the designs being applied.
In my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 3,718,517, a versatile machine is described wherein the outer surface of an article is decorated by means of a die disposed at a decorating station. The article being decorated is rotatably mounted on a rotary table which advances the article to each decorating station which in the case of the illustrated embodiment is two decorating stations. At each of the decorating stations, a layer of transfer material is interposed between the die and the article, the former causing the transfer material to engage the rotatable article. As the die is moved across the outer surface of the article, a portion of the transfer material is thereby adhered to the article in the form of the desired decoration.
A plurality of mandrels are mounted on the rotary table for supporting the articles to be advanced to the decorating stations. After decoration at the first station is completed, the rotary table advances the article to the subsequent station where the process is repeated. The two decorating stations may be employed to impart a multi-color design on to the article or imprint onto the article two different designs with separate dies either in one or more colors.
In my earlier patent, the plurality of mandrels mounted to the rotary table were interconnected with one another by means of flexible belts which resulted in all the mandrels being rotated simultaneously to maintain proper registration with respect to one another. Thus, when the mandrel at one of the decorating stations is rotated, the remaining mandrels simultaneously rotate therewith in order to register each of the articles mounted on the mandrels with respect to one another.
Although such a registration system is satisfactory for general purpose decorating, certain specialized applications exist wherein a greater degree of accuracy is required between the designs applied at the several decorating stations. One such situation occurs with a design such as a rectangle which includes within its border printing of a different color. The rectangle in this case is applied at one station in a first color along with certain other indicia. The design imparted at the other station is in a second color and includes the printing which appears within the border of the rectangle. In order to accomplish the positioning of the two designs with respect to one another it is necessary to position the article at the second station with the same orientation as existed at the first decorating station. Thus, the article must be rotated between the first and second decorating stations an angular distance such that the article arriving at the second station is rotated to the orientation with which it arrived previously at the first decorating station. In other words, the article must be rotated 360.degree. plus the angular distance between the first and second decorating stations. A method and means are disclosed herein whereby the article is so positioned at the first and second decorating stations to facilitate a specialized decorating application of the types described above.